I think everyone is familiar with the word knowing and doing. Who is more important, knowing or doing, has always been an important issue debated by China philosophers, and its debate is second only to the debate on righteousness and benefit in the history of China's philosophy.
There are different opinions about which is more important: knowing or doing. Confucius thinks that knowledge is more important than action. Not only Confucius, but also pre-Qin thinkers thought that knowledge was more important than action. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties also believed that knowledge was more important than behavior, while Zeng Guofan, who destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, believed that behavior was more important than knowledge.
Which is more important? Many of our experiences tell us that knowledge is more important than action. For example, when we study knowledge from kindergarten to university, the process of learning knowledge is knowledge. You can't go until you know. Without this knowledge, it is impossible to find a job. For example, if we want to dig a well, we must first know how to dig it, otherwise it is impossible to dig a well.
If you want to drive, you must first know how to drive. This not only shows that knowledge is more important than action, but also shows that the prophet acts after, and only the prophet can act after.
People who advocate that deeds are more important than knowledge, such as Zeng Guofan, say that if you want to know one thing, you must practice it. This approach is feasible. Without this line, you can't know. For example, if you want to know how to dig a well, you have to dig to know how to dig a well. If you learn to dig a well, you really can't dig a well. If you want to know how to drive, you must drive. Only in the process of driving can you learn to drive.
Zeng Guofan means, know first, do it before you know.
Both theories sound right. For the theory that knowledge is more important than practice, we have heard the saying that "theory guides practice", and for the theory that practice is more important than knowledge, we have heard the saying that "practice makes true knowledge". You can't prove which is wrong, but the truth is absolute, and there can never be two diametrically opposite truths. Therefore, some people have adopted the way of compromise and reconciliation on the issue of knowing and doing, or muddled along. This man is Zhu's disciple Chen Cheng.
He said that knowing and doing are equally important, in no particular order, so knowing and doing are one. For example, if you want to drive, you need to know what you are doing, and you need to know what you are doing before you can do it. Knowledge and action go hand in hand.
So, here's the problem. Chen Cheng put forward the unity of knowing and doing, and Wang Yangming also put forward the unity of knowing and doing. What's the difference between them? Or there is no difference at all.
Now, we will enter the Wang Yangming-style integration of knowledge and action.
15 17, Wang Yangming went to Jiangxi to suppress bandits, then put down Nanchang Zhu rebellion, and then went to Guangxi to suppress bandits on 1527. The perfect victory of these three wars pushed Wang Yangming to the altar of saints. Wang Yangming's victory in these three battlefields is all because of his unity of knowledge and action.
The unity of knowing and doing is the combination of practice and theory, which is understood by most people. If you know, you must act. The indisputable fact is that if the unity of knowledge and action is true, then Wang Yangming can't create such great achievements by it, and Wang Yangming's fans can't be a dime a dozen in the past 500 years. Therefore, Wang Yangming's unity of knowledge and action is not so simple.
1508, Wang Yangming founded the theory of mind in Guizhou and put forward the concept of "mind is reason". The next year, he went to Guiyang to give a lecture, but what he said was "the unity of knowledge and action".
Yangming's mind is consistent, and Wang Yangming can't make such a shallow mistake. In the second year of psychology, another concept was put forward.
Therefore, the unity of knowledge and action should come from the heart.
Heart is reason, and frankly speaking, it is psychological unity. There is justice in our hearts, and we must express ourselves from the heart so that justice can be presented. Thought and action can't go their separate ways, but for psychological unity. The unity of knowing and doing is another manifestation of psychological unity: we have a conscience in our hearts, and only those with conscience will act and show justice. Therefore, the unity of knowing and doing is the unity of psychology.
Therefore, anyone except Wang Yangming talks about knowing and doing, even Chen Cheng's unity of knowing and doing is all about knowing and doing, which is an artistic aspect. Wang Yangming talks about the unity of knowing and doing, and he talks about Tao, because it comes from Wang Yangming's mind of realizing Tao in Longchang, that is, psychological unity.
Now, let's take a look at how Wang Yangming explains "the unity of knowledge and action".
First: lewdness will stink.
It means that the unity of knowing and doing is like liking beauty when you see it, and hating it when you smell it. When you see beauty, you will like it immediately. You don't have to think about whether you like it or not after reading it. Seeing beauty belongs to knowing, and liking beauty belongs to doing. There is no difference between seeing beauty and liking beauty, so there is no need to think. In other words, there is no gap between knowledge and line, which is one of them. Therefore, knowing and doing are one. Smelling stench belongs to knowledge, and bad stench belongs to behavior. There is no gap between smelling stench and bad stench, so there is no need to think. No one will smell the stench and think about it. Do I like it or hate it? There is no gap between knowing and doing, which is one of them. From this perspective, knowledge and practice are one. What is one, not two and three, but the same thing.
Another inappropriate example: it is known to be struck by lightning, but it is ok to fall to the ground. If you are struck by lightning, you will fall to the ground immediately. If you have no time to think, you will fall to the ground immediately. No one has ever been struck by lightning. I wonder if I should fall, or somersault, and then fall with paintballs. This is Wang Yangming's first explanation of the unity of knowledge and action.
The second explanation is the example of water. Water always flows downwards in its natural state. Water "knows" that it is "knowledge" to flow downwards, and it is "line" for water to flow downwards all the time. It never stops, just knowing what it is doing, just knowing what it is doing. However, as we all know, water doesn't consciously know why it goes down again.
The third explanation, Wang Yangming said, is that from the beginning of a thought, reading is knowing, doing is doing, and knowing is doing.
From the above three aspects, we can see that the knowledge of knowing and doing is neither knowledge nor theory. This is our instinct. When we see beauty, we immediately like it, which shows that loving beauty is our instinct. When we smell the stench, we will immediately dislike it, which shows that we humans are born with an aversion to ugly food. The continuous downward flow of water is an instinct of water. So, what is this instinct? This is our conscience. It knows that beauty is beauty, that shit stinks, and how to make quick decisions in an emergency.
The power of instinct is unparalleled, and it is the most powerful power of human beings. When eating, everyone eats automatically and loves beauty. Everyone really loves beauty. This is an instinctive force, and no external force is needed. Yangming's Mind Theory is actually a philosophy of action that allows us to restore our sheltered conscience instinct and create great achievements.
"Unity of knowledge and action" is the only way to solve this problem. Life is alive, if your every thought and everything is dominated by your conscience. In the end, we can become omnipotent saints. Finally, what we want to say is that Wang Yangming's unity of knowledge and action is based on the judgment of conscience.
Conscience: Conscience is different from conscience.
Conscience is the soul of Wang Yangming's theory of mind, which Wang Yangming has been talking about. So, what is Wang Yangming's explanation of conscience?
Wang Yangming explained conscience as follows.
First, Wang Yangming said that conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes.
This sentence is too important. Whether you can understand this sentence is the key to understand Yangming's mind. Conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes. Simply put, our likes and dislikes are conscience, so conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes. For example, we like life and hate death, and we like beauty and hate ugliness. This is our conscience. It's not conscience for you to take other people's lives and let them die.
Then, literally, we find that conscience is particularly emotional and almost irrational. Is conscience such a thing? Acting according to our likes and dislikes is a matter of conscience? We like money, and we like beautiful women. Is it our conscience to pursue these things? We hate work, we hate taking social responsibility, and we escape to the deep mountains and forests. Is this for our conscience?
Absolutely not!
To understand that conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes, we must first understand Wang Yangming's other explanations of conscience. Only by combining all Wang Yangming's other explanations of conscience can we really understand the sentence "Conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes".
Wang Yangming's second understanding of conscience is that conscience can be divided into right and wrong, good and evil. In other words, conscience knows right and wrong, good and evil. Hearing this, my conscience was surprised. It can distinguish truth, goodness, beauty from falsehood and ugliness. Moreover, this resolution was completed in an instant.
This is also Wang Yangming's third explanation of conscience: conscience reacts quickly and does not wait. How many pieces are there so fast? As soon as the situation appears, your brain has no time to react, and your conscience gives a judgment. From this perspective, conscience seems to be very much like an instinct of us human beings. It's actually our instinct and intuition. Does conscience need us to learn the day after tomorrow? No need.
Because Wang Yangming's fourth explanation of conscience is that everyone has a conscience. It is innate, as long as you are human, you have this thing, and conscience is the yardstick to measure people.
The last explanation is that conscience is easy. Yi is the meaning of Yi and Yi in Zhouyi. In short, the same behavior, different situations, conscience gives different judgments.
Now, let's roughly sum up, what is Wang Yangming's so-called conscience?
Conscience is what we are born with. It can judge right and wrong, good and evil, react quickly, and judge the outside world constantly. Then, we return to the concept that conscience is a heart of likes and dislikes
As can be seen from the above discussion, Wang Yangming's so-called "likes and dislikes" are human nature and are innate likes and dislikes, not our acquired likes and dislikes of fame and fortune. For example, people naturally like beauty, so loving beauty is the judgment of conscience; People naturally hate stench, so it is a judgment of conscience to hate stench. For another example, people like life, so caring for life is a trial of conscience, and people don't like death, so taking someone else's life is a sin, which is a trial of conscience.
We don't need to learn from the outside world to judge this kind of right and wrong, because conscience is innate.
Therefore, conscience is our innate moral sense and judgment. The so-called moral sense is what I should do, and saving others' lives is what I should do. However, we still have to be able to do it, and this is judgment. The so-called judgment is that I have the ability to do anything. Morality is very important, but judgment is more important.
When many people talk about conscience, they think that conscience is equivalent to conscience. Conscience includes conscience, but it is definitely not just conscience. Otherwise, Wang Yangming and his fans can't build their own achievements with conscience.
For example, if you walked down the tenth floor and saw a baby fall, would you pick it up? Most people will answer. Because caring for life is a matter of justice and a judgment of conscience. But if a 250-pound fat man fell from it, would you still pick it up? You won't. The same is life, why choose the baby instead of the fat one? Because fatty, you can't do it. Although we should do it, we won't do it when we are unable to do it. In an instant, the baby and the fat man fell down, and you didn't have time to think. You have to make a decision, whether to answer it or not. In this case, the only thing that can help you make a decision is your conscience, because it is our instinct to react quickly and make the right decision.
The unity of knowing and doing is to act according to conscience. Anyone who acts according to his conscience is called the unity of knowledge and action. Anyone who does not act according to his conscience, even if things are done perfectly, is not called the unity of knowledge and action.
Therefore, the integration of knowledge and practice is your own business, regardless of external rules, rules and evaluation criteria. Everything is based on my own conscience as rules, rules and evaluation criteria, and everything is handled by my own conscience. If this can be done, everything will be justified and unified inside and outside.
Someone asked Wang Yangming, what about people with bright conscience?
Wang Yangming said that people with conscience will certainly be able to do it.
In other words, a bright conscience itself is the unity of knowing and doing, and the unity of knowing and doing itself is a bright conscience.
Wang Yangming's theory of mind, which runs through Wang Yangming's life, revolves around conscience and makes people know and do in one. So, why did he mention the unity of knowledge and action?
In other words, what is the purpose of the integration of knowledge and action?
The purpose of the unity of knowledge and action: to eradicate evil thoughts.
Wang Yangming mentioned the principle of unity of knowledge and action twice.
He said this for the first time in Biography: You must understand my purpose. That's why I mentioned the unity of knowledge and action. Because modern people's knowledge divides knowledge into two things, there is an idea, even if it is not good, it will not be banned just because it has not been implemented. When I say integration of knowledge and practice, I want people to know that it has been implemented. If there is something wrong with the idea, we should get rid of it and eradicate it completely, so that bad ideas can't lurk in our hearts. This is what I mean by the unity of knowledge and action.
I think everyone has understood that the purpose of his statement is his third explanation of the unity of knowledge and action, and he can do it as soon as he thinks about it.
Let's hear a story. In the late Warring States period, Qin invaded six eastern countries, especially Wei and South Korea, and suffered the most. In 26 1 BC, under the pressure of Qin, South Korea gave in and ceded Shangdang County to Qin, hoping to survive for some time.
Shangdang County is located at the junction of Korea, Zhao and Wei, commanding and strategically important. South Korea is divided into two factions. One faction fully supports the decision of the king of South Korea, and the other is not to die. Shangdang county magistrate belongs to the latter, and soon sent general Feng Yi to Shangdang county, asking him to complete the handover with Qin.
As soon as Feng Yi arrived in Shangdang County, he immediately contacted Zhao, claiming to dedicate Shangdang County to Zhao. The ministers of Zhao were very happy and decided to accept Shangdang County.
Zhao's general Lian Po strongly opposed it. He said Shangdang County was a hot potato, and we didn't have time to hide. Why do you have to bear it? Ministers have despised Lian Po, saying that you are old and timid.
You know the later history, Zhao took over the party and Qin attacked the party. First, Lian Po stayed at home. The State of Qin sent spies to Zhao to preach that "only Zhao Kuo can defeat the Qin people", and the prince of Zhao listened. In the final battle of Changping, the main force of Zhao was wiped out, and there was no ability to compete with Qin.
Zhao paid a heavy price for the idea of joining the party. From then on, he was unable to compete with Qin, and eventually he sank and perished. Zhao Guojun and his subjects were able to join the Party, which had a lot to do with their usual thoughts.
At that time, facing the prosperity of Qin, Zhao was both afraid and jealous, and always wanted to kill Qin. This idea accumulated more and more, and suddenly Shangdang County, a strategic place, gave it to him and could not refuse.
Explaining this matter with Wang Yangming's tenet of "unity of knowledge and action" is actually: just start with an idea. Even if you can't do it now, you will one day if you don't stick to these ideas.
Therefore, it is not only a theory, but also a warning of "starting from one thought".
He warned those who always have evil thoughts: don't think that you don't think it's nothing if you don't put evil thoughts into practice. If you don't stop common bad ideas, you will really put them into action.
Great evils are all from childhood in e, and small evils are all from childhood.
If we want to integrate knowledge with practice, we must stifle those evil thoughts, exterminate the roots and be merciless, so that they do not lurk in our hearts.
Wang Yangming's statement about the unity of knowledge and action aims at knowing and acting. You think it's enough to know that it's not good. That's not true.
Wang Yangming's second proposition of the unity of knowledge and action is in his article Book Lin Si Xun Juan. In this article, he said: in today's era, utilitarian theory is rampant, and no one knows that there is a saying that "Mingde is close to the people", let alone the reality of "Mingde is close to the people". Scholars skillfully write words to decorate fraud, hypocrisy and greed, and they are covered with human clothes, but they are animals' hearts, but they still think they are engaged in the study of sages. Seeing this, I was particularly scared, so I put forward the theory of "integration of knowledge and practice", hoping to understand the knowledge of sages.
The meaning of this passage actually tells us that people at that time were hypocrites, with different psychology, different inside and outside, and different knowledge and practice. Just like some people we often see, people who wear lay clothes and Tang suits and brag about their practice, open their mouths to be grateful and merciful, keep their conscience shut, and integrate knowledge with practice. But when it comes to profit, it's like a dog seeing a bone. This is the devil in Wang Yangming's mouth. The trouble is, they don't know that they are the devil wears Prada, and they think they are studying sages.
This is really terrible, as Wang Yangming said, so he mentioned the theory of the unity of knowledge and action.
From the two purposes of the statement, we can find that the unity of knowledge and action is psychological unity. In the context of western psychology, consciousness and subconsciousness are combined into one, and consciousness and subconsciousness cannot go their own way. Under the background of China's traditional philosophy, everyone should be integrated inside and outside, psychologically, knowing and doing. Hook up the heart with foreign things and give the growth of foreign things to the heart. In the long run, you can cultivate a bright heart and a pair of discerning eyes. Only in this way can we quickly and accurately judge those complicated people and things in a complex and changeable world.
But unfortunately, it is difficult for many people to integrate knowledge and practice. Why can't many people do such a simple truth, such a simple guide to action and such a simple methodology?
It is difficult to combine knowledge with practice: do you need help when you see a child by the well?
Wang Yangming once said: "As long as a person likes good as he likes beauty and hates evil as he hates evil, he is a saint."
When a disciple first heard this sentence, he asked, why can he do this by saying that he is a saint?
Wang Yangming replied that what can be done is the integration of knowledge and action. Disciple said, this is not easy, it is too simple.
But after a while, this disciple came to see Wang Yangming in frustration and said, what you said is really difficult.
Wang Yangming asked, where is the difficulty?
Disciple A: For example, although I know my likes and dislikes, I will unconsciously be mixed with other thoughts. Once mixed with other thoughts, it doesn't like virtue as much as it likes beauty, and doesn't hate evil hearts as much as it hates stench.
Wang Yangming said that your feelings are very touching. Many people in the world can't combine knowledge with practice because it is really difficult.
Why does even Wang Yangming say that it is difficult to combine knowledge with practice?
Let's take a look at Wang Yangming's expression of "unity of knowledge and action", which is like this: if you are horny. Seeing beauty belongs to knowing, liking beauty belongs to doing, and liking it immediately. There is no gap between seeing and liking, it is the unity of knowing and doing.
Frankly speaking, in fact, liking beauty is sincere, spontaneous and unconscious without external force. What Wang Yangming hopes is that everyone should do this when they see beauty, and do good deeds and eliminate evil in life, wholeheartedly, go all out and unconsciously.
As you know, this is unrealistic. We like beauty, and it is instinct to eat when we are hungry. Instinct is so powerful because it doesn't need external blessing. You can do it yourself. But if we like virtue as much as we like beauty and hate evil as we hate stench, it will be much more difficult.
Because of many good deeds and evil deeds, our instinct will not accept or refuse. Knowing that it is right to be brave, but seeing unjust things means that you have no courage, knowing that ill-gotten gains are wrong, but seeing ill-gotten gains, you still want to take them.
At this point, sincerity lost its strength and lost to selfish desires.
The reason why we can't combine knowledge with practice is here: after our conscience makes a judgment, we think. And people's thinking is nothing more than two words: interest and reputation. For example, when we see the old lady fall to the ground, our conscience tells us that we should come forward to help, but our brains will think about it. Will saving the old lady be blackmailed?
As a result, knowledge and practice split.
The split between knowing and doing is because we don't have enough determination to do good and evil. If we have enough determination, we will do good and evil as we like beautiful women and hate stench, and knowledge and action are integrated all over the world.
It is not enough to have determination, because we are mixed with thinking. Therefore, Wang Yangming has always advocated that heaven forbids thinking and conscience cannot be changed.
Heaven forbid thoughts and conscience to change their minds, but what they say is actually the same thing. When we face a thing, if our conscience gives us a good idea, we should do it at once, instead of thinking about it and changing our mind. Again, once people change their minds, it is inevitable that interests and fame will be mixed in. I won't offend others or suffer misfortune when I do this. I won't make huge profits when I do this. How much profit is there?
Long-term and in-depth thinking of this interest will delay your actions and make you lose your conscience in too much thinking. In the end, this matter may be ruined.
Once you think and change your mind, this seriously discredited selfish desire will slip into the process of knowing and doing, and it will split you into two.
Someone asked: Do you see any children by the well who need help?
Wang Yangming replied: Of course. But there is a mystery here.
What is this mystery?
Wang Yangming replied: Seeing a child by the well and saving it at once is the unity of knowing and doing; When I saw the child by the well, I thought, will it be profitable to give him a hand? With this idea, even if the child is saved, it is not a combination of knowledge and action, because knowing (seeing the child by the well) and doing (helping) are mixed with selfish desires (whether it can gain benefits). In this way, your behavior of helping children will produce selfish desires, so knowledge and action will split.
When people do things, they should act according to our own conscience and do whatever they do, without any interest or reputation. The unity of knowing and doing is to move oneself, not others. Therefore, everyone has selfish desires, which is the root of the difficulty in combining knowledge with practice.
In addition, it is difficult for us to integrate knowledge and practice, which is the barrier.
Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang, commanders of the frontier fortress in the Eastern Han Dynasty, led troops to the Western Expedition, killed Xiongnu leaders who refused to obey the Eastern Han Dynasty, then cut off their heads and sent them back to Beijing, asking the central authorities to allow them to hang their heads in places where ethnic minorities lived in compact communities. Show the world that people who make me strong will be punished, although it is far away.
The central government discussed it. After careful consideration, Premier Kuang Heng said, "It is necessary to hang that smelly head. But there is one thing to note. "
The emperor asked, what is it? Kuang Heng said solemnly: "The Moon Order (a classic work at that time) said that spring is the time to bury bones and carrion, and it is not suitable for hanging rotten heads." The emperor smiled, and so did all the ministers. Only Kuang Heng thought it was not funny at all, kept a serious expression and secretly sighed. Except the emperor, they are all ignorant fools.
Kuang Heng, the man who stole the light when he was a child. After studying hard, I finally became an official, and I have always been a prime minister. My personality is extraordinary, I am a gentleman. This kind of person is Wang Yangming's so-called "master", but he is wearing the coat of "learning".
The so-called "knowledge" is kidnapped by the truth created by the authority and classics outside the heart and becomes a slave to the external truth. Killing Xiongnu leaders and beheading them is a great event, but Kuang Heng is haggle over every ounce about the records in the Moon Order.
Most importantly, he is very serious and has the attitude that I am the truth.
Most people will be bound by external reasons. For example, scientists say that exercise makes people healthy and everyone goes to exercise; Another day, scientists said that stillness makes people healthy, so everyone sat still. Some people say that it is good to go to bed early and get up early, so everyone goes to bed early and gets up early.
When we are kidnapped by the seemingly correct truth, we lose ourselves and have no discrimination. Just like Kuang Heng, we just follow the script and become a miserable slave.
Obviously, Kuang Heng is not a person who combines knowledge with practice, nor is he a person who can guide his conscience. A person who believes in external authority and so-called truth will never listen to the truest voice in his heart, which is the voice of conscience.
Therefore, there are two main reasons why it is difficult to combine knowledge with practice. First, our selfish desires obscure our conscience; Second, our conscience has been kidnapped by the books (authorities) we read, so it is difficult to combine knowledge with practice.